Tuesday, January 22, 2013

"Tuesday's with Dorie"... French Apple Tart

Loved this recipe, I made the apple saucy stuff in the morning while I was getting my day started and then I assembled it and baked it for dessert later in the same afternoon. Even though this recipe is very time consuming, it was easy and very tasty. I would make this one again.

I love the layered look to this dessert, which seems to be very common among the apple tart style dishes. This recipe is very similar to another dessert we baked back in January 2010. So I got to wondering about the history of this layered dessert and this is what I discovered...

The story begins in the late 1800’s in a small town in the Loire
valley, Franch. Where two sisters, both unmarried, ran a small hotel. Caroline Tatin, the youngest, was sought out by many of her friends for her confidential advice on affairs of the heart. The older sister, Stéphanie Tatin, took care of all the cooking and she
could be found at any time of day working at the stove with her big copper
pots and kettles. She became known for her specialty, "tarte aux pommes", the traditional French apple pie, which she served crunchy and caramelized, with warm melted sugar and butter.The story goes, that one day when she was preparing lunch in a bit of a hurry, by mistake she put theapples and sugar in the pan without putting the crust in first. In a
rush she threw the crust on top, baked it a bit too long, then turned it
out on a plate, upside down, not bothering to let it cool as she
usually did. Voila! the delicious tarte tatin was born. But the story doesn't end there... Maxim's, the famous Paris
restaurant, got wind of the popularity of the tart, and engaged a chef
to pose as a gardener for the sisters at their hotel and was assigned to steal the recipe. It has been on their menu
ever since."